


Saving Him

by peggy_hamilton



Category: Political Animals
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-10
Updated: 2020-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:33:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23097916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peggy_hamilton/pseuds/peggy_hamilton
Summary: You're TJ's best friend and the one to get him to the hospital when he tries to commit suicide
Kudos: 7





	Saving Him

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted on my tumble justthinkingofwaystoavoidbusses
> 
> original request: Hi! I wanted to ask if you write for TJ Hammond from Political Animals? Something fluffy and someone rescuing him from himself?😘 - anon

You had known the Hammonds for what seemed like your entire life. Your father was a senator so you had always had to attend fancy parties and events with him, it was at one of these parties that you first became friends with TJ Hammond.

He had left the hall to get away from the pressures of his family and you had left to get away from the pressures of social interaction. Both of you had ended up hiding out in the same room away from the main event and talking the whole night and became fast friends, the guards had gone crazy trying to find the two of you but that was all in the past now. Over ten years in the past.

After growing up in politics you had wanted to do anything but that with your life, you moved out as soon as you could and TJ would often show up unannounced when he needed to get away from it all. Except recently he hadn’t shown up at all, he hadn’t called or texted and you were left a little out of the blue on what the hell was happening.

It was no secret to you that TJ was going through a lot, you had witnessed his slow descent into alcoholism and depression and it killed you to see your best friend and the person you loved lose himself. That was why it scared you so much that he had gone radio silent for almost a month. You couldn’t even find any new information about him from the tabloids and that was the driving factor that pushed you to pack a bag and drive the hour long journey to where he and his family lived.

There were only a few cars on the road thanks to it being late at night so you let yourself speed down the roads, getting there in 40 minutes. You pulled up outside his apartment and jogged up the stairs to his building, he had given you a key long ago so getting in wasn’t an issue. TJ lived a few floors up and when you finally reached his floor you felt something settle in your gut that told you something was wrong. You knocked on his door, “TJ?” you yelled, listening for any signs that he was moving around in there.

“The doorman told me you were home so you better open this door,” you yelled through again, knocking louder. With a huff you dug into your pocket and produced the key to his apartment, unlocking the door, “I’m coming in, you better be decent.”

When you opened the door there was chaos around the apartment, everything was messy and it looked like he hadn’t left in weeks. You walked further into his place and stopped dead in your tracks, TJ was on the floor and passed out. “TJ!” you rushed forward to his side and pushed him over, his skin was cold and clammy and when you felt for a pulse it was barely there. “Oh my god,” you breathed, you could see numerous empty bottle of alcohol around him and the remnants of his obvious drug abuse.

You gulped and switched on your phone to call 911, “Yes, hello. My friend has overdosed and he won’t wake up, I need an ambulance,” you gave them the address and hung up. You pushed his hair that had stuck to his forehead away from his face and pulled him into your lap, “You’re gonna be okay, I’m gonna make sure you’ll be okay,” you whispered to him, letting yourself cry over his body.

When the ambulance came you had refused to leave his side until they had let you stay in the ambulance. At the hospital, he was rushed away to surgery and you knew you wouldn’t able to go with him, you spent the first half an hour pacing the waiting room then decided to go get some coffee from the cafeteria to calm your nerves. As you drank your coffee and waited to hear from one of the doctors you realised that you hadn’t told the Hammonds what had happened.

You went outside of the hospital, it was still night time, the early hours of the morning now. The air was cool on your face and grounded you as you dialed. “Hello?” you heard a tired voice on the other end of the line.

“Hi, Elaine, it’s Y/N,” you said quietly.

“Y/N? What are you doing calling at 4am?” she replied sleepily.

“It’s TJ,” you gulped.

“TJ?” she sounded more alert now, “What happened?”

“I found him overdosed at his place, he’s in surgery, we’re at the hospital,” you felt hot tears streaming down your face.

“I’ll be right there,” Elaine said and hung up the phone.

You wiped the tears from your cheeks harshly and went back inside the hospital just as a doctor came down the hall, “Are you with Thomas Hammond?” he asked.

You nodded, “Yes.”

“He’s just out of surgery now, he should be fine but we need to keep him for a few days and he needs to stay away from substance abuse,” he told you, giving you a once over as if you were the one supplying him with all the drugs and alcohol.

“Can I see him?” you asked.

The doctor sighed and looked at his clip before nodded, “Yes, but he’s still asleep,” he told you.

“That’s fine, what room?”

“42c, second floor.”

You nodded in thanks and walked past him and up to the second floor, the walk was only short but it felt like an eternity. When you reached his room you looked at him through the glass in the door and almost couldn’t go in, his face was still pale and he looked so fragile and broken lying in the hospital gown under the thin hospital sheets.

Turning the door handle you quietly walked in and sat down in the chair by his side, taking his hand in yours. The beeping from the heart monitor the only thing reassuring you that he would be fine, how could you have been so stupid to have left him on his own. It wasn’t his job to call you, you should have tried to make contact with him. You were his best friend, always had been, it was your job to look out for him when others couldn’t. When he couldn’t. And you had failed. You lay your head down on the bed next to his hand and you couldn’t stop the sobs that wracked through your body.

TJ slowly peeled his eyes open a few minutes later, the first thing he thought was _why was am I awake?_ The second was that there was something warm in his hand, he tried to move his head but that sent a jolt of pain through his entire body, he just moved his eyes and though his vision was a little blurry he could make out Y/H/C and familiar body shape. “Y/N?” he asked, his voice weak and hoarse.

You snapped your head up and saw he was awake, “TJ? Oh my god,” you wiped away your tears before he could see and scooted closer to him, “Are you okay? How are you feeling?” you asked softly.

“I feel like shit,” you managed a weak smile.

“Well good, you scared the crap out of me Thomas James Hammond, don’t you ever do something like that again,” you said sternly, holding back the urge to beat him senseless now that he was awake.

“Full name? You really must be pissed,” he joked.

You glared and try to stay angry but after a few seconds your composure broke and you huffed a laugh, “That’s because I am. Why didn’t you come to me?” you asked, your voice betraying how hurt you were.

TJ looked guilty, “You’re too good for me. I didn’t want to burden you with my problems.”

You sighed, “TJ I’m your best friend, your problems are my problems. I made that decision when I first met you I’m not changing that now.”

Just then Elaine followed by Bud and Douglas rushed on, “TJ, honey, are you okay?” Elaine rushed forward to his side, the rest of his family going to his side and practically forcing you out of the way.

“I’m fine, Mom,” TJ reassured.

“No, you’re not. You’re lying in a hospital bed,” his dad said sternly.

“At least I’m not lying dead,” TJ replied having a short stare off with his family.

“When do they release you?” Douglas asked him.

“In a couple of days,” you piped up from the corner of the room, the whole family turned to look at you as they had clearly forgotten that you were there, “They need to keep him for observation, the doctor says he should be fine but he wants to make sure.”

They nodded and turned back to TJ, “When you get out of here I am sending you straight to a rehab centre,” Elaine said with a don’t-argue-with-me-tone.

You saw TJ scrunch his nose up at that, in the past few years the Hammonds had tried to make TJ stick it out in many rehab centres but he had never lasted more than a few days. He hated them. “He could stay with me,” you offered quietly, once again everyone turned to look at you. TJ looked confused yet hopeful, the rest looked almost disgusted that you suggested something other that the finest rehabilitation centre in the country.

“Excuse me young lady but Thomas is my son and I decide what’s best for him,” Bud said sternly, glaring at you.

“No, excuse me, Mr. Hammond,” you fired back, unsure where this confidence had come from. You had clicked well with the rest of TJ’s family except for his dad who had never really seemed to like you all that much for reasons unknown to you. “But TJ is an adult and he doesn’t need his father telling him what to do, he should be able to make his own decisions about what’s best for him. And it’s clear to see from the past that no matter how good the rehabilitation centres are they don’t help TJ because he doesn’t want help from them. My house is in the middle of the countryside away from the main city and tabloids, that means it’s a stress free environment and there won’t be the added trouble of paparazzi. It’s a place he comes to anyway to de-stress, I don’t even drink alcohol myself and the nearest shop that sells it is miles away. Plus, he would be looked after by me, his best friend, rather than strangers that he doesn’t know trying to meet a monthly quota of people they’ve ‘helped’.”

The whole room was silent as you and Bud stared each other down, the silence was only broken when Elaine spoke up, “The lady certainly makes a good case,” she smirked at her ex-husband and looked at you with something you thought was pride.

Bud huffed and looked down at TJ who had been silent for the whole thing, “What do you want to do?”

TJ looked from his father to his mother to you, “I’d rather stay with Y/N,” he spoke up after a moment.

Elaine clapped her hands once and looked at everyone with a smile, “Then it’s settled. Y/N, I hope you know what you’re getting yourself into,” she gave you a soft smile.

“I know, believe me.”

—

When TJ had been released from hospital you had driven him back to your place, Elaine had already had people move some of his stuff over from his apartment. It made you a little uncomfortable to have workmen in your home whilst you weren’t there but you were unwilling to leave TJ’s side whilst he had been in hospital.

“Mi casa, su casa,” you said when you reached your house and got out of the car. Your house was on the outskirts of the city and where countryside began. Your street was in fact just a long dirt track with only two other houses on it, both of which were spread a mile or so away from you. The house wasn’t particularly fancy, your dad had offered to buy you a better one but you didn’t want his money, instead you had used the money you earnt yourself as well as some savings to buy it. The house was a regular one, with two floors and an attic you had converted into a work space, you had your spare room all set up for TJ.

“Thank you,” TJ said as he got out of the car, “For standing up to my father, not letting me go to some fancy facility where they don’t care about me.”

“No problem,” you smiled over at him as you walked into your house.

You went into the kitchen and began making a drink while TJ sat at the breakfast bar, after a moment you placed a cup of tea in front of him. “Is there alcohol in this.”

“No,” you laughed.

TJ sighed and sipped the drink. “No alcohol while you stay with me,” you said firmly, “If you do I’ll know. I wasn’t kidding when I said the only shop is miles away, and you only have my car so I’ll know if you try to leave.”

“What am I? Your prisoner? Maybe I shouldn’t have stayed here,” TJ joked.

You rolled your eyes, “You can go places, I’ll just have to drive you to those places and stay with you at those places so I know you’re not relapsing,” you said more seriously.

“I guess I deserve that,” TJ said sadly.

“Oh, you deserve way worse,” you smiled brightly, “You’re lucky I’m your best friend, I could make your life hell but I won’t.”

You and TJ sat and talked about meaningless crap while he finished his tea, you hoped that you would be able to help him. You couldn’t bare to lose him, you had never been as scared as you had been when you found him overdosed.

When he finished you stood up and grabbed his mug to place it in the dishwasher, you didn’t notice TJ come up behind you till you turned around and had to stop yourself from running into him. “What’s up?” you asked, furrowing your eyebrows.

“Why did you save me?” he asked quietly.

“Because you’re my best friend.”

“I didn’t deserve it. I’m no good for anyone.”

“You’re good for me,” you pulled him into a hug and he buried his head in your shoulder, “Never doubt that. You can always talk to me, about anything, okay? You’re my best friend, I love you, I’ll do anything for you, you got that?”

You felt him nod against your shoulder, “Yeah, I got that,” he murmured.


End file.
